Never Alone
by sam81609
Summary: [SprxNova] A new evil is after the Hyperforce, and Nova in particular. When they begin attacking, Nova begins keeping secrets from her friends, until she drifts too far away for the Hyperforce to pull her back Review Please, finally updated!
1. Prologue

SUPER ROBOT! YEA! This is my fourteenth fanfic, and my second Super Robot fic (my first one is 'Know your Stars Super Robot Style', check it out sometime). I also happen to be a big Sprx/Nova shipper (TELL HER ALREADY SPRX! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!), so if you see any other pairing in this, it's your completely weird imagination. That said, on with the story! Oh, and one quick note: this is set after season 3, I love the new Antauri! Plus, later in the story, setting it after season three will be easier. oh, and if you see this: x0x0x0x0x, it means the POV is changing

* * *

**Never Alone**

By

**Guardiangirl1**

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* * *

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**ACT ONE**

* * *

"Magnoball Blazer!"

An electric shock slammed into the monster they were fighting and threw it backwards. Sprx whirled around looking for one of the other Hyperforce members. His eyes landed on Gibson, who was tending to Nova. The yellow monkey had taken a few good hits.

"I'm okay", he heard her mutter as Gibson leaned over her, "Go help one of the others, go on Gibson"

_Okay nothing, _Sprx thought bitterly, _She's too stubborn for her own good, when will she learn?_

He shifted his attention back to the monster, which had turned on Chiro. "Look out kid!" he yelled to Chiro, who had his back to the creature, trying to help Antauri and Otto. They were all in pretty bad shape.

Chiro whirled around just in time to see the monster coming at him, "Chiro Spearo!" he yelled. A lighting bolt formed in his hand. He threw it at the monster and knocked it off track, giving him time to grab Antauri and Otto and run.

"How are we supposed to beat this thing?" he asked Chiro as the kid came up along side of him. The monster was about ten feet tall, and a complete shadow. They couldn't even tell if it had a face.

"Got me if I know", Chiro said, "We've got three monkies down, and we're not doing any good against it ourselves"  
"So what's the bad news?"

"Great time to be telling jokes Sprx", Nova said sarcastically from behind them. Sprx couldn't help but grin.

"Come on, you know how much you love my sense of humor"  
"Not nearly as much as I'd like to--"

"Save it you two!" Chiro snapped as the monster reared to attack again, "We've got bigger problems"

Sprx turned his full attention to the monster, and a split second before it attacked, he realized what it was about to do.

"Nova, Gibson, move!" Chiro shouted as the monster took aim at the two and fired what seemed to be a shadow blast at them. Gibson stumbled up and attempted to pull Nova up as well, but she was too badly hurt to do anything. Sprx, thinking quickly, jumped in front of the two and put a magnetic shield up to block the blast. It worked, but just barely. As the attack died away, the red monkey fell to his knees, exhausted.

"We can't keep this up much longer", Chiro said, "If we're going to destroy this thing, we need a way to do it now"

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

"If we're going to destroy this thing, we need a way to do it now"

_And how exactly do we do that? _Nova thought impatiently, _I don't know if he's noticed, but we're being kicked around by this thing! _

Her eyes wandered over her teammates, who all looked tired and beaten, and finally landed on Sprx. A not-so-calm-calm feeling came over her. She allowed herself to smile for a second at the red monkey's fierce determination, before she remembered that there was still a fight going on.

"Watch out!" she yelled as the monster attacked again. This time it aimed for Sprx, who was obviously the weakest.

"Sprx!" she yelled, "Move!"  
But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was just too weak. _No…_ She thought desperately. Before she had time to stop to think, she gathered what remained of her own strength, and dove in front of Sprx, taking the blow head on. She flew about ten feet, and hit the ground. She heard yelling around her, but couldn't make sense of it. Finally, everything went black.

* * *

"Well Gibson?"  
"For the last time stop pestering me Sprx! I have two other monkies and Chiro to take care of to you know!"  
"I know, I know…"  
"Instead of standing around, you could give me a hand you know"

"I could…"

"Oh forget it"  
"Just tell me what you need done big brain"

Nova tried to make sense of what was going on around her, but it was all fuzzy. _Jeez, did I get run over by a planetoid? _She thought wearily. The thought struck her funny and her memories of the battle came back. _Oh yea…I hope everyone else is okay…where am I anyways?_

At least she could answer the last question. It was safe to bet she was in the Super Robot, how long she had been there for though, she wasn't completely sure of. She tried to make sense out of who she had heard talking before. It'd sounded like Gibson and Sprx. At least they were okay. What about the others though?

"Nova?" she finally managed to open her eyes and saw Sprx leaning over her, a look of concern one his face.

"What a site to see when I first wake up", she managed to say jokingly, "How long have I been out for?"  
"Oh, a week or so…"  
"A WEEK?.!" Nova yelled, bolting up.

"Cut it out Sprx", Gibson snapped, "She needs her rest"  
"All right all right", Sprx said, "It's only been a few hours"

"Sprx you wait till I get out of here, I'm gonna--"  
"Threaten him later Nova", Gibson said boredly, "Rest now"

It was only then that she noticed Otto, Antauri, and Chiro were all laying on hospital beds similar to the one she was on, "Guess we took a beating, huh?"  
"We took worse than that", Sprx said, "And that…shadow thing or whatever you want to call it is still out there, that makes it worse"  
"It's still out there?"  
"It ran away during the fight", Sprx said with a shrug, "I dunno how it happened or why but the thing just took off. Dunno where it went, but next time we see it, we'd better be ready"

"Yea", Nova pushed herself up unsteadily to get a better look at the others. They were all worse for wear. Chiro had several bruises, and Otto and Antauri had enough dents to last a life time.

"Well aren't we a lively group, huh?"

"Yea", Sprx said with a half hearted chuckle. Nova sighed and leaned back on her own bed, eyes closed.

"Get some rest", she heard Sprx say quietly, "We can talk later"

* * *

"Huh?" Nova's eyes snapped open, "Where am I?"  
She looked around, trying to make sense of where she was. But it was no good. This wasn't any place she'd ever been before.

"How in the world did I get here?"  
"Nova…" Nova's head snapped around, "Nova…"  
"Who's there?" she said shakily, "What's going on? I…ah, why is it so cold here?.!"  
She shivered and continued to look around, completely rattled by what was happening.

"Nova…"  
"Stop that!" she yelled, "Now who are you and what do you want?.!"

"Come and see Nova", the voice said teasingly. Nova's fist tightened angrily.

"Oh I'll come and see", she said through gritted teeth, "Just as soon as I knock your lights out!"

She took off at a run towards where she thought the voice (whatever it was) was coming from. She came to a halt in a clearing, _Now what?_

"You mean you don't know?" the voice scoffed. It sounded familiar…

"Who are you?.!" Nova screamed, "Tell me _now!_"

"Better yet, why don't I show you?" Nova whirled around and a figure stepped out from behind a tree. The yellow monkey yelped in surprise and stumbled backwards, tripping over a fallen stick and hitting the ground. It was…_her. _Well, sort of her. It was more like a dark, evil version of her. The fur was a shade of black unlike anything Nova had ever seen. It was almost like a shadow her.

"W-What?" Nova stuttered, "What's going on? Where am I? Who are you?"

"So many questions little Nova", the doppelganger said mockingly, "I'd love to answer them all, but I only came to give you a present"

Nova shielded her eyes as a flash of light jumped up in front of her. The light died away and she was left facing a horrible sight; the Hyperforce members laying on the ground in front of her, dead.

"AH!" she stumbled backwards, screaming, "What is this?.! What's going on?"  
"So sad", her evil self sad, shaking her head mockingly, "Such a shame. Five good heroes, all gone to waster like that…wait. I just remembered, I don't care"

Nova looked, dumbfounded, at the bodies of her friends laying in front of her. Her eyes fell on Sprx, and an anger she'd never felt before awoke inside her.

"You did this!" she cried, jumping up, "You…I'll make you pay, I swear it!"

"Oh you think so do you?" Evil Nova laughed mockingly, "I'd like to see you try"

"You would, would you?" Nov asked, "Have it your way. Lady Tomahawk!"

She would have loved dearly to wipe the smirk off her alternate self's face. She didn't get the chance though. Right as she got close enough to attack, a flash of light appeared, and she was thrown backwards, slamming into a tree. She straightened up rubbing her head, and glared at the evil her.

_Wait a minute…_she thought, _Wasn't I hurt before? Think Nova, what was the last thing you were doing before you got here…_

A single memory came back to her.

_"Well aren't we a lively group, huh?"_

_"Yea", Sprx said with a half hearted chuckle. Nova sighed and leaned back on her own bed, eyes closed. _

_"Get some rest", she heard Sprx say quietly, "We can talk later"_

She'd fallen asleep! Of course, there was the answer!  
"It's a dream!" she cried, "It's just a dream!"  
"Very good little Nova", her evil self smirked, "But figuring it out isn't enough to save you!"

There was a flash of light. Nova heard a cracking noise, and looked up to see that a branch had broken off the tree she was standing under. And it was a big branch.

"Say good night little Nova"

Nova squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the impact…but it never came. After a few seconds, her eyes snapped open, and she found herself back in the infirmary of the Super Robot.

"What the…" she bolted up and looked around, "How in the world…"  
"Morning Nova", she looked around and saw Chiro sitting up in his own bed. He looked at her curiously, "You okay? You seem a little--"  
"I'm fine", she said quickly, turning away from Chiro.

_What in the world was that all about?_

* * *

Like it? Hate it? Review and tell me! 


	2. Out and About

Back again! If you're reading this, you must have liked the last chapter. Godspeed if you did, I didn't think anyone would like it. Okay, on with the story. NOTE: A mind change, if you see this: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0, it means POV change

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It was a few days before Nova, Antauri, Otto, and Chiro were let out of the Infirmary. Gibson had insisted on doing test after test to make sure they were one-hundred percent okay. Antauri had been patient enough, Chiro had been a bit impatient but kept quiet, and Otto just sort of ignored it. Nova wasn't so great about it though.

"It's been three days since we got hurt Gibson!" she snapped as he ran another test, "Can we _go _already?"

"Be patient Nova", Gibson said, "Just a few last minute test and you can go, I want to make sure there's absolutely nothing wrong"

Nova sighed impatiently. She was tired of being stuck in the Infirmary. "All right", Gibson said finally, "You can go"  
Nova was the first one out the room. She was relieved to get away; being stuck in there with the team bigmouth hadn't given her much time to think. And she had a lot to think about.

"Oof!" she flew backwards as she ran into someone. She looked up, intent on giving whoever she had run into a good piece of her mind.

"Sprx!"

"Sorry Nova", he said, grinning slightly, "Guess I wasn't pay attention. You okay?"

"I'm better than I've been for the last few days", she said with a shrug, "Least I'm out of the Infirmary"  
"Good point", he said, helping her stand up, "You sure your okay?" he said, looking at her closely, "You seem a bit distracted"  
"What?" she said, "Oh, no, I'm fine. Tell the others I went for a walk, I'll be back in a bit"  
"Wait!" Sprx grabbed her hand as she walked by him, "Are you sure you should be over-stressing yourself?"  
"It's just a walk Sprx", she said, smiling slightly, "Don't worry about it"

Sprx glared at her for a second and finally released her, "All right, fine, go. Just make sure you're back before dark"  
"Not a problem", she said with a smile.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Sprx glared after Nova and sighed. _So stubborn, _he thought, _maybe that's why I like her…_

He sighed and made off for his room. Once there he started going through a drawer. It was mostly junk, really, eventually he'd get around to cleaning it out. He finally found what he was looking for. When Chiro had first found the monkies, he had insisted on taking pictures of all the monkies just to prove hey existed. He managed to get all of them copies of the photos, and even to this day he had held onto one of them. It was the picture of Nova. He looked at it with a sigh.

_Just don't scare me like that again Nova. I thought I lost you…_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Nova wandered sadly through Shugazoom. Being in the Infirmary hadn't given her much time to think, but now at least she could be alone. She had a lot to think about.

_Was it really just a dream? _She thought as she looked up at that sky, _did it mean something? Is there some deep meaning I'm missing here? What kind of meaning can be found in a dream where all my friend's are dead? Maybe I'll ask Antauri, he's good at analyzing dreams…_

She instantly nixed the thought. No way could she tell any of the other Hyperforce members about this. Not after what had happened when they were fighting that monster. She knew Antauri, Chiro, and Otto had been hurt as well, but she was supposed to be the strong one, the one who hurt the monster, not the one who got hurt. If she told them about the dream, on top of getting hurt, they might start to think she was weak. As far as any of them knew, she only had one weakness, and that was cold. That was enough for them know.

_There is time and a place to express anger…_

What good were those words doing her? What a time to remember them, anger was the least of her worries.

0-0-0-0-0

"Aw, one little yellow monkey, walking all alone"  
"I say we destroy the lot now and get it over with"  
"In time, we will. Nova now knows of us or one of us anyways"

"It was a message Antauri, or have you forgotten?"  
"Have you forgotten not to call me that so soon?"

"Well excuse me, D.A., I forgot, not a crime"

Dark Nova looked away from the monkey wandering the streets of Shugazoom, and examined the four monkies around her. Each of them the dark essence of a Hyperforce Member. Each could also take on the appearance of the Hyperforce Member as well. Not that any of them liked the idea of doing it.

"I have not forgotten it was a message", D.A. said half patiently half impatiently, "But I think you went a little far with it"

"I don't think she went far enough", Dark Sprx cut in, "Look at Nova; she thinks it was all a dream. Maybe she didn't get the message as clearly as you thought, eh Dark Girl?"

"You're cruisin for a bruisin Sparky", Dark Nova said threateningly, "Watch your step or you're going to be black and blue"

"Do you two always have to fight?" Dark Gibson asked boredly, "A horrible trait you carried over from your original selves, wouldn't you say?"

The two glared back at him, but didn't answer.

"We still need a plan", Dark Nova said finally, turning back to watch Nova through their looking glass, "Nova doesn't believe I really exist, eh? Well then, lets convince her"  
"You have an idea then?" Dark Otto asked, "What can we do?"  
"Sit back and watch", Dark Nova said with a smirk, "your time will come soon enough"

0-0-0-0-0

"It's way past dark", Sprx said nervously, "Where is she? Shugazoom isn't that big!"

"Nova, Nova come in", Chiro said for the millionth time into the communicator, "Why isn't she answering?"

"That's it", Sprx sad impatiently, "I'm going to look for her right--"

"Nova!" Otto said suddenly, looking past the two. Sure enough, Nova was standing behind them, looking at them wearily.

"Where have you been?" Sprx said impatiently, "You said you'd only be gone for a little while!"  
"Sorry", she muttered, "The walk lasted longer than I expected…"  
"No kidding huh?" Sprx snapped.

"Listen Sprx, don't start with me!" Nova snapped, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"I'll start all I want", Sprx said, "You had me--I mean _us_--worried sick!"  
"Listen _Sparky_", Nova said, breathing hard, "I'm _not _in the mood to have you yelling at me, so just be quiet!"

She whirled around and stormed out of the Command Center, fuming. They could practically see the steam coming out of her ears.

"Next time Sprx", Gibson said, "Try not to get her mad, please, I like the Robot the way it is, I don't feel like having to put it back together again if you get her mad"

"Well, I didn't mean to get her that mad", Sprx said with a shrug, "It just happened"

"Well try to make sure it does not happen again", Antauri said patiently, "You know as well as any of us what Nova's temper is like"

Sprx sighed wearily. He knew they were telling the truth. He really didn't like it, though.

0-0-0-0-0

"Who does Sprx think he is anyways?" she muttered bitterly as she stormed to her room, "Bossing me a round, yelling at me, the nerve of him!"  
She flopped down on her bed and sighed. Point blank, she was exhausted. She hadn't even done that much, but her body still ached. A good night's sleep would do her some good…

* * *

"You think it was all just a dream?" her eyes snapped open. She didn't even remember closing them.

"W-What?" she managed to stutter, "Who's there?"

"Who do you think?" the voice scoffed. She looked around and saw her "shadow self" step out from behind a tree.

"What do you want?" Nova snapped at the evil monkey, "Just leave me alone!"

"And why would I do that?" Dark Nova asked scoffingly, "You think I'm just a dream after all. Make me go away if I don't really exist"

Nova backed away slowly. All of a sudden, she wasn't so sure it was just a dream. "Very good", Dark Nova said quietly, "Finally figuring things out are we? It's about time"  
"What do you want?" Nova snapped furiously.

"Temper, temper", Dark Nova scoffed, "Want to be careful now don't we? Don't want that nasty temper of yours out of control, do we now?"  
Nova's fist tightened, but she knew she couldn't let herself get to far. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but she couldn't block out Dark Nova's voice. "Come on little Nova", she taunted, "Aren't you going to fight? Hehehe, of course not. You're going to run aren't you? Of course, there isn't anywhere _to_ run"  
"Be quiet!" Nova snapped, her eyes flying open. There was a flash of light and she was thrown backwards, into a tree. She felt someone grab her from behind. She looked up, and screamed.

Whoever it was _looked _like Sprx, but with one big difference; hew as completely black. He had a small smirk on his face, completely on Sprx-like. She yanked herself out of his grip and stumbled forward, desperate to get away. There was a flash of light, and suddenly, she was surrounded. There were five monkies standing around her. Each one looked like a Hyperforce member, but they were all completely black. "What do you want?" she snapped, rearing for a fight, "Tell me!"

"You'll see soon enough", Dark Nova scoffed. Nova opened her mouth to retaliate, but was suddenly taken over by a black blanket. She tried to scream, but her voice was lost. She was surrounded, she couldn't see…

"AH!" she bolted up in her bed, shaking. She tried to calm herself down, but no go. She looked around her room to make sure she was really there, and finally started trying to slow her breathing down. She closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths. Not that it did her much good. She pulled herself up and made her way out the door and down the hall. She needed a little fresh air.

* * *

The night breeze washed over Nova, relaxing her a little. The sun would be rising in maybe an hour, she wasn't sure she was going to stay out for it though. She was hoping coming out for a bit would clear her head. It didn't exactly work though.

"What are you doing up this early?"  
She looked around and saw Sprx standing behind her. She smiled for a fraction of a second, until she remembered she was mad at him.

"Look, Nova-"

"Save it", she muttered, shoving past him. She caught a glimpse of the hurt look on his face, but ignored it. She wasn't in the mood the exchange insults.

* * *

Okay, because I'm pretty lazy and such, here's a Key for you to remember:

Dark Nova: D.N.

Dark Antauri: D.A.

Dark Gibson: D.G.

Dark Sprx: D.S.

Dark Otto: D.O.

These guys are going to be in later chapters, so it would be in your best interest to remember that, wouldn't it? Ok, now you can review and tell me how bad it was

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	3. Attacks and Nightmares

Hiya! Wow, I didn't think this fic would be so popular, boy was I wrong! Okay, on we go!

---

D.N. smirked as she watched Nova. The little fool of a monkey would never doubt her existence again now. Things were going better than she could have hoped.

"Perhaps they are", D.A. said from behind her, "But don't get ahead of yourself. We still have a ways to go"  
"I wish you wouldn't do that", D.N. snapped irritably, "It's pretty annoying you know"

"You're getting ahead of yourself", D.A. repeated more forcibly this time, "Don't count Nova out just yet, she's strong willed"  
"Then we'll just have to break that will, won't we?" D.S. asked, smirking, "Shouldn't be too hard, we've already got her doubting herself"  
"D.A. is right", D.G. said, "If we get ahead of ourselves now, we might just loose this battle"  
"You sound a lot like Gibson for someone who's suppose to be his evil essence", D.S. said sarcastically.

"Would you all be quiet?" D.N. snapped, "The things I put up with…"

"We need another plan", D.S. said, "We could start messing with their heads"  
"Too soon", D.A. said, "You take out the strongest warrior before going for the rest"  
"So who's the strongest?" D.O. asked at once.

"It's a tossup between Nova and Antauri", D.G. said carefully, "Nova has strength on her side, but Antauri is more mystic, he could see past any of our disguises"  
"You doubt the others then?" D.A. asked, "They all have their strong points. The trick is to break past them and get in their heads"  
"So we find their weakness", D.O. translated, "How hard could that be? They where their feelings on their sleeves"

"It's harder than it looks", D.G. said, "Chiro is the only one who could give us real trouble though"  
"Would someone explain to me again _why _we don't have an evil Chiro?" D.O. asked.

"Because, D.O.", D.G. said, exasperated, "The monkies were created by a source of good slowly turning evil. Chiro wasn't. Small seeds of evil were planted inside the monkies. Simple enough?"  
"So we're little seeds?"  
"Yes D.O." D.G. said, giving up, "That's exactly what we are"

"Oh, okay!"

D.N. shook her head, "You're as dumb as Otto"

"Is there any chance here we can focus?" D.S. asked, annoyed, "We need to find weak points, otherwise we're never going to get anywhere!"

"Right", D.G. said, "We just need to hit each Hyperforce member where they're the weakest. Who should we start with?"

"Start with the hardest", D.S. suggested, "I think it would be Antauri. Any ideas where he's weak?"  
"It's like I said before", D.G. said, "He can see through disguises, anything we do won't fool him. Any ideas D.A.?"

"He has a soft spot for the boy", D.A. said carefully, "But I wouldn't call it his absolute weakness"  
"It's worth a shot", D.N. said, "But we need to find Chiro's weakness first"

"That's an easy one", D.S. said, "The robot girl, Jin May. Take her, and we've got him"  
"Good one", D.N. said, "So that just leaves Gibson, Nova, Sprx, and Otto"  
"Otto will be simple enough", D.G. said, "Lets focus on Gibson, Sprx, and Nova for now"  
"Sprx and Nova are easy", D.N. said, smirking, "Their weakness? The other. You saw the way they defended each other in that fight with the shadow creature. Nova almost gave her life for Sprx. What would you expect their weakness to be?"

D.S. smirked, "Of course. Get those two against each other, and we've got two down"

0-0-0-0

Nova walked quickly through the halls of the Super Robot. She was trying to find Sprx, to apologize. She felt bad for what had happened last night, and she did want to make it up to him somehow.

"Sprx!" she called as she saw him walking down the hall a little ways ahead of her, "Sprx, hang on!"

Sprx turned around, looking bored, "Oh…hey, Nova"

"Hey Sprx", she said as she caught up to him, "Look, I wanted to talk about what happened last night, I'm really sorr-"

"I don't care"  
Nova stopped short, "W-What?"  
"I don't care Nova", he said in a clear voice, "In fact, I'm glad we had that fight, it made me realize that you actually don't mean a thing to me"  
"Sprx, what do you--"  
"Let me put it in a way even you could understand", Sprx said as though he were talking to a five-year-old, "If I wasn't on this team, I'd arrange so I never had to look at you again. Clear enough?"

Without waiting for an answer he pushed by her, leaving the stunned monkey behind.

0-0-0-0

Sprx wandered through the halls of the Super Robot, intent on finding Nova to patch things up with her. He felt truly bad about last night, he hadn't had the right to yell at her, he knew that…

"Nova!" she'd just come out of her room, and was making her way down the hall. She turned around, "Oh…it's just you Sprx"

"Hey", he said, catching up to her, "Look, about last night, I'm sorry, really, I didn't have the right to yell at you, I was just worried, you know, ever since-"

"I don't want to hear it Sprx"  
Sprx stopped dead, "W…what?"

"What you said last nigh", Nova said, shrugging carelessly, "I could care less what you meant. To be honest Sprx, I don't care much for you at all. Sorry to break it to you"

She looked at Sprx with a solemn look in her eyes, and turned to walk away without another word.

-0-0-0-0-

"Ooh, harsh D.N." D.O. said as she appeared in front of the waiting group.

"I did my job didn't I?" D.N. asked, looking coldly at Sprx through their looking glass, "Him and Nova won't be much trouble anymore"  
"Perhaps not", D.A. said, "But we should count them out yet"  
D.N. smirked, "Don't worry", she said, "I've got a plan that will at least keep Nova out of our way for a bit. You got the girl, right?" she shot at D.O. and D.S.

They nodded, "Good", D.N. said, "Before long we'll have Chiro down as well. Everything, is under control"

-0-0-0-

Nova was getting ready for bed. She hadn't said much all day, she'd been too shocked. She'd spent most of the day in the gym, and no one was idiot enough to bother her there. She'd made sure to leave only when she was sure everyone would be in there rooms getting ready for bed. She still couldn't believe Sprx would say those things to her. But she'd heard with her own ears, hadn't she? The only explanation was that he was telling the truth, unless it was all just a cruel joke, in which case she would be likely to kill him. But the look in his eyes…she could tell it was the truth.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" said a mocking voice from behind her. She whirled around.

"You!"

Dark Nova was standing near her door, smirking, "Surprise", she said cruelly, "Did you miss me?"  
"Not in the least!" Nova snapped, "Now what do you want?"  
"I'm just here to watch the show", D.N. said with a shrug, "I did start it after all"  
"What do you--" Nova's eyes grew wide as she remembered her last dream, "It was you!" she cried, "Or your…your evil Sprx, whatever, it was him I was talking to!"  
"And it was I who was talking to Sprx", D.N. said, shrugging, "What's your point?"  
"What did you say to him?" Nova snarled, gearing for a fight.

"Not much", D.N. said with a shrug, "Just enough to loose footing with you"

Nova's fist tightened. She'd have liked nothing better than to wipe the smirk off that look alike's face.

"It was quite easy, really, messing with him", D.N. continued, "Never once noticed-"  
Before Nova knew what she was doing, she was attacking. D.N. was quicker than her though, and moved left. Nova slammed headlong into her bedroom door. Before she knew what was happening, she was being lifted into the air, and thrown backwards. She hit the ground with an amazingly loud crash. She tried to pick herself up, only to find that she couldn't move. She shifted her eyes up to D.N., who was standing above her, smirking.

"What did you do to me?.!" She yelled furiously.

"In time Nova", D.N. said as footsteps approached, "Sounds like your friends are coming. I best be off. Just remember Nova, this isn't over"  
There was a resounding crack, and she disappeared. Nova dropped her glare to the floor as she tried to pull herself up, but it was no good. She was completely frozen. She was starting to feel drowsy and out of tune with everything. Chances were she'd overdone in it the gym, she hadn't taken a break all day, and she'd just taken a hard hit…

"Nova!" she heard her bedroom door open, and a second later she felt her self being grabbed and pulled up. A second later, Chiro's face swam into view, with the rest of the Hyperforce standing around him. "Nova?" Chiro repeated softly, "What happened?"  
"I-I…I dunno", she said finally, trying to push herself out of Chiro's grip, not that it did any good. Gibson stooped down next to her and ran a scanner over her.

"Most of her systems have been completely frozen", he said after a second. Nova could feel herself starting to loose touch again, and tried to pull back. Her head was pounding, and her entire body was starting to ache.

"Will she be okay?" she heard Chiro ask.

"I think so", Gibson said, "It would be nice to know just what happened though. I'd say she was attacked, but the security system should have stopped any intruders. Unless of course Otto forgot to activate it again--"  
"I didn't forget!" Otto protested, "I forgot once, so what?"

"Stay on track you guys", Chiro said sternly, "Come on, lets get her down to the Infirmary--"

"What?" Nova heard that part loud and clear, "I'm not going back in there--"

"Yes you are", Gibson said firmly, "Just for a bit, long enough to get your systems fixed"  
Nova made a disgusted face but was helpless to do anything as she was lifted up and carried down the hall to the Infirmary.

--

"And you're sure you don't know what happened?" Gibson asked for the millionth time.

"No", Nova said crossly, "I told you, I was hit from behind, that's all I remember"  
"I know what you told me", Gibson said, "I'm trying to jog your memory"

"Well it isn't working", she said, "so try a different tactic"  
"Nova I'm just trying to help", Gibson said a bit angrily.

"I know", Nova said with a sigh, "I know you are, sorry, I'm just…I dunno, but I'm still sorry"  
"It's quite all right", he said stiffly, "Well, as far as I can tell there's nothing wrong with you, so if you want to leave- and I'm sure you do- you're more than welcome to"

She was at the door before he had finished his sentence. She looked around as she prepared to leave and felt guilty as she watched Gibson start to shut down the computer. He _had _been only trying to help, she didn't have to snap at him…

"Thanks Gibson", she said quietly as she left. She didn't stick around to see if he heard her.

0-0-0-0-0

"Very subtle D.N." D.S. said sarcastically.

"I didn't see you doing any better", she shot back.

"I thought we agreed to go ahead with our plan for Chiro before we did anything else?" D.O. asked curiously.

"We would have if _someone_-" D.S. jerked his thumb at D.N., "Hadn't decided to go ahead with something else and leave us all in the dust. Now the Hyperforce will be better on guard and we won't be able to get in again"

"Says who?" D.N. shot back, "It's not like we had to work to hard to get around their pathetic security system anyway. Just do your job an we'll be set, no one will be of the wiser"

0-0-0-0-0

Chiro flopped down on his bed, exhausted. His mind was reeling with what had just happened. Obviously Nova had been attacked, but who could get by their security system? It didn't make any sense. He yawned widely and closed his eyes. He could just sleep on it and think about it more in the morning, he supposed. What he didn't realize at the time though, was that his mind was no longer a safe place.

---

"Where am I?" Chiro asked. His voice echoed around the empty cave. For that was where he was. A cave. He looked around cautiously, as though he expected something to jump out at him. He listened for a second, and finally decided to try and find an exit to get out of the creepy place. It was only then he noticed eh was in Hyper Mode.

"What the-"  
"Chiro", his head snapped around, his eyes wide, "Chiro…"  
"Who's there?" he asked, "Antauri? Nova? Gibson, Otto, Sprx? Somebody?"  
"Come and see Chiro", the voice taunted, "We have something of yours, come and see"

"Something of mine?" Chiro asked, "What?"  
"Come and see", the voice repeated. Chiro's eyes narrowed. His sensible side was telling him this was all one big trap. But his curious side wanted to know what was going on, and, as always, curiosity over came sensibility. He took off farther into the cave, closer to wherever the voice was coming from. He could still hear it taunting him, always saying the same thing: "Come and see Chiro"  
He ran faster and faster, looking around, looking everywhere but in front of him. "Ah!" he yelled as he finally noticed he was fast approaching a dead end. He skidded to a halt and stopped about two inches before the wall.

"Come and see Chiro", his heart nearly stopped. The voice was coming from right behind him. He whirled around, but no one was there. Suddenly, he was thrown into light. His hands flew up to his eyes, and when the light finally died away, he found he was no longer in the cave. He was in a forest. Not that you could tell at first glance, none of the trees had leaves, and the only animals were ravens, cawing away on the bare trees.

"Hello Chiro"

He whirled around, and saw, to his great relief-

"Antauri!"  
But something was wrong. This wasn't the Antauri he knew. His swift, silver-white skin had been replaced by black, and it wasn't even the black he had once been, just pure black. And there was something different about the air around him. It wasn't as calm and peaceful, but evil, and full of hatred.

"You're not Antauri…" he said slowly

"Very good boy", he scoffed, "Very good…"

There was a flash of light, and Jin May appeared on the ground in front of him, tied and gagged. "Jin May!" he dove to grab her, but there was another flash of light, and she was gone. His head snapped up to face 'Antauri'. "What'd you do with her?" he asked furiously.

"Don't look at me", he said, pointing to an area behind Chiro. The boy whirled around and saw Jin May hanging from tree, being held by- it caught Chiro by surprise- Nova.

"Not Nova Chiro", she said gleefully, "Good try though"  
"Who are you?.!" Chiro yelled, "Why are doing this?"

"You sound just like Nova", another voice said. Chiro looked around and saw what looked like Sprx standing next to him. His brain was telling him not to trust his eyes anymore though.

"You should have seen the look on her face when she thought Sprx didn't care about her anymore", he went on, "I felt a little bad about doing it to her…actually, no I didn't"

"You mean Nova knows--?"  
"Of course she does", D.S. snapped impatiently, "But all of you have been so dim you accept all her pitiful excuses--"

"So it was you that attacked her!" Chiro snapped, realizing.

"Of course it was", D.N. spoke up from behind him. He turned back around and saw that she was still holding Jin May, "Don't try talking to her about it though", she went on, "She'll deny it all, she wants to forget everything, I guess we're not making it too easy for her, but then again it isn't our job to make things easy"

Chiro barely heard a word she was saying. He was too busy focusing on ways to get Jin May free.

"I wouldn't bother", D.S. broke through his thoughts, "D.N. can move faster than you can blink, you wouldn't get two inches before she'd be gone"  
"Let Jin May go!" he said angrily.

"Let her go?" D.N. repeated, "Well okay…"  
Chiro realized what she was going to do about a split second before she did it. D.N. was holding Jin May a good fifteen or twenty feet in the air.

"No!" he yelled D.N. released her grip on Jin May. But he was too far away to catch her, too far away to do anything…  
"AAAHHH!" he bolted up in his bed, breathing hard and sweating. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve, and tried to forget about what he had just seen. It was a dream, he told himself, It had to be.

0-0-0-0-0  
"As stubborn as Nova, innit he?"

"He'll break. He'll break just like Nova did, you'll see"


	4. Messing Around

Ack! It's been so long since I updated, no happiness for that/slaps hand/ bad Sam, bad Sam! Okay, no more sad excuses for self abuse, lets get going with this, onto chapter…whatever.

* * *

Nova threw Chiro a weird look. He'd been acting weird ever since he'd woken up. She was starting to get worried, she couldn't help but wonder what was wrong. She sighed and looked over at Sprx. He was refusing to so much as talk to her, a side effect, she supposed, that had to do with whatever D.N. had said to him. Nova clenched her fist angrily at the mere thought of _her_. She was making Nova's life miserable, no doubt.

"Hey Chiro", she walked into his room and found him playing video games.

"Oh, hey Nova", he said, hitting _pause_ on his game. He was looking at her weirdly.

"Okay, I'll play", she said, smiling, "Why have you been acting weird all day?"

He narrowed his eyes, "Nova, you know you can tell us anything, right? That you don't have to hide anything from us?"

It felt like the floor gave out from beneath her. _He knew_! "Of course", she said, trying to keep her voice light, "What makes you think I'm hiding something?"

He shook his head, "Nothing", and went back to his game. She took it as her chance to escape, and bolted.

-0-0-0-

_She lied to me!_ Chiro thought furiously, _I don't believe her!_

As quickly as his anger flared though, it died away. _Who's to say that dream wasn't a lie?_ He reasoned, _Nova wouldn't hide anything from us, after all. Whoever those guys were, they were liars. Friends don't keep secrets. Especially if they're hurting others_

-0-0-0-

"So close", D.S. said, looking at Chiro through the looking glass, "We were _so_ close to making Chiro hate her"  
"It's going to take more than secrets to tear them apart", D.G. said, "So who do we do next?"  
"Gibson", D.O. said, "I know just what to do with him"  
"I think we should do Otto", D.S. argued, "He'll be a lot easier"

"Why not do both?" D.A. suggested.

"Huh?"

D.N. smirked, "Got it", she said, "Listen up, I have a plan…"

-0-0-0-

Otto made his way through the halls of the Super Robot. Everyone was busy doing something, and he was bored. Sprx was working on fixing something in his room, Nova was down in the gym, Antauri was meditating, Gibson was going down to work in his lab, and Chiro was playing video games. Otto had started playing as well, but got bored and left. _Maybe I'll go into town or something…_ he thought.

"Otto?" he turned around; Gibson, Sprx, and Nova were standing behind him.

"Oh, hey guys", he said, smiling, "I was just going into town, wanna come?"

"No", Sprx said, "We don't want to go _anywhere_ with you"  
"What do you—"  
"We mean we don't want to even be with you", Nova cut him off, "You're pathetic. You're useless, all you ever do is cause more trouble—"  
"Basically, Otto", Gibson said, "We don't need you. And it's about time someone said something. Chiro and Antauri don't want to, but they feel the same way. We don't need you around here Otto. Hate to break it to you"

It felt like someone had slapped him the face. He stared at them, dumbfounded, for a second until Nova shrugged and turned away, saying, "Maybe he's too dumb to realize what we just said"  
Sprx and Gibson nodded in agreement, and the three of them walked away.

-0-0-0-

Gibson made his way into his lab. He had some more studying he wanted to do on the thing they had fought the other day, they still didn't—

"What?.!" He jumped backwards in surprised as the door to his lab opened. It was _trashed_. Beakers and test tubes were thrown carelessly to the ground (some broken), chemicals were spilled, and papers were thrown _everywhere_. He looked around, his mouth practically on the floor, and found, in the middle of the mess, Otto and Sprx, surveying their handy work and looking proud. "Otto, Sprx!" He yelled, "What did you do?.!"  
"I think it looks better this way", Sprx said, shrugging. They ran out before Gibson could kill him.

-0-0-0-

The explosion downstairs rocked the Robot. Voices carried throughout the normally quiet halls, up to Antauri's and Chiro's rooms. They both ran out into the hall, and down to Gibson's lab. There they found the source of the noise.

"I never did anything to your lab Gibson!" Otto was yelling, "I had every right to though after what you said to me!"  
"I never said anything to you!" Gibson shot back, "You'd better get used to cleaning, both of you, because you're going to be the ones picking up!"  
"I'm not picking up anything!" Sprx yelled, "I didn't _do_ anything!"  
"Right, so I imagined you two being there", Gibson said sarcastically, "Face it, you were both caught!"  
"Like I'd do anything with any of you after what you said!" Otto yelled.

"We never said anything to you!" Sprx and Gibson yelled back.

"Hey, HEY!" Chiro yelled above them, "What is going on here?.!"  
"Otto and Sprx decided to have a little fun in my lab", Gibson said stiffly, "And now they're trying to deny it, even though I caught them!"  
"I never touched your lab!" Otto yelled.

"Well _I_ never said anything to you about being a bad teammate!" Gibson retorted.

"So I imagined it then?"  
"Obviously!"

"That's enough", Antauri said, stepping forward, "Now, tell us, exactly what happened?"  
-0-0-0-

Nova listened to Otto and Gibson recount what had happened from the hall. She knew none of them were guilty of the things that were being said. She also knew who was. "You're smart", a voice said from behind her, "Too bad they're not"

She didn't turn around, "Go _away_"  
"Or what?" D.N. taunted. She listened to the fight that had just started again, "Ah, music to my ears…"  
"I'll tell them who's really doing this", Nova threatened, whirling around, "I'll tell them everything"

"Do you really think they'll listen?" D.N. asked, "They'll think you've gone crazy, lost it, gone off the deep end. They won't believe you, not even Antauri"  
"How do you know?"

"Because you know", D.N. said, "And I know everything you do"  
Nova's fist quivered. What she would have given to be able to attack…"If you really think they'll listen though, go ahead and tell them", D.N. continued, "Well as much as I'd like to stick around, I can't. Places to be, lives to destroy. Like yours. Bye"

She disappeared. Nova turned her attention back to the fight. "I know what I heard!" Otto was saying, "You, Sprx, and Nova all said—"  
How had she gotten dragged into this? "I haven't seen you since this morning!" Gibson shot back, "At least, not until I found you and Sprx destroying my lab—"  
"For the last time Big Brain, we never did that!" Sprx yelled, "Just like _I_ never said anything to Otto about him being pathetic or useless!"  
"I heard you!"  
Nova shivered. What she would do just to be able to tell them everything…

-0-0-0-

"This is just too great", D.N. said gleefully, looking at the viewing glass at the arguing Hyperforce. Chiro and Antauri were doing everything they could to make the fighting stop. They weren't doing to great a job at it, though.

"We still have Antauri to deal with", D.A. reminded them.

"Maybe we shouldn't deal with him", D.S. said carefully, "Maybe we should just take him out of the picture all together"  
"You have a plan?" D.O. guessed.

"You bet I do", D.S. said, "Listen up…"

* * *

If you read this, please review so I know this is worth continuing! 


	5. Lost and Found?

Yay Updates!

* * *

"Missing?", Chiro repeated, "What do you mean?"  
"He's not here", Otto said, "Antauri's gone"  
"Why would he just leave like that?" Sprx asked, "It doesn't make any sense!"  
"Gibson, see if you can get a lock on his tracer", Chiro said. Gibson went right to work on the computer.

"Nothing", he said after a few minutes, "Either it's been disabled, or he's just out of range"

Gibson, Otto, and Sprx were still at odds about yesterday. But they had more important things to worry about right then. "Split up and search the city", Chiro ordered, "We're going to find him"

-0-0-0-

Antauri's head ached as he woke up. What had happened? He tried to remember. He had been in his room after trying to sort out what had happened between Otto, Sprx, and Gibson, and then…nothing.

He looked down at his body. It was completely bound by ropes. He struggled against them, but they were tied too tight. He tried to phase through them, but nothing happened. "Do you really think we'd let you _keep_ your phasing ability?" a mocking voice asked, "We're not idiots, you know, no matter how our counterparts act"  
His head snapped around. Standing in front of him was…Sprx? No, not Sprx. Close, but no. "You're smart", D.S. said, grinning wickedly, "Smarter than Nova and Chiro were, which actually isn't hard if you think about it—"  
"What do you want with me?" Antauri asked, still struggling against the ropes that held him tight.

"Nothing, really", another voice said from beside. He craned his neck to see who was talking. "We just need you out of the way", D.N. said, "Too hard for us to fool you, you see"  
"You're too patient for us to make you mad", another voice said. D.O., D.G., and D.A. were all standing on his other side.

"We couldn't use our usual disguises to trick you", D.G. said.

"So we decided to just take you out of the picture all together", D.A. finished. Antauri glared at them.

"So now that we _finally_ figured out what to do with him", D.S. said, "What do you say we figure out how to finish off everyone else?"

"Fine", D.N. said. To D.O. she said, "Take him down with the girl. We don't want him to accidentally hear anything important"

-0-0-

They spent all day searching, and came up with nothing. Antauri clearly wasn't anywhere in the city. "What could've happened?" Chiro said, "People don't just disappear like that!"  
"Like what?" a voice said from behind them. They whirled around.

"Antauri!" Gibson said, "Where have you been?"

"I left a note in my room saying I would be out all day", Antauri said, "Didn't you find it?"  
They all looked at Otto, "There was no note!" he said.

"I left a note, would you like to see it?" Antauri asked.

"No", Chiro said, "It's fine. We were just worried, is all"  
"I am sorry I worried you", he said.

"No problem", Chiro said, "No problem"

-0-0-0-

"There was no note!" Otto said furiously, "I searched his entire room!"  
"Okay, okay, I believe you", Nova said. It had taken a good part of the night to get Otto to talk to her, but she'd finally done it.

"Why do you want to know, anyway?" he asked suddenly. She turned away. _Now or never, Nova_, she thought, _You have to tell them. They need to know. Especially if…_  
"I don't think that's really Antauri", she said finally. He blinked, confused.

"What?"  
"Otto", she said firmly, "What I tell you in here you have to _swear_ to never repeat to anyone else. Not Chiro, not Sprx, not Gibson, and right now, _certainly_ not Antauri"  
"Okay, sure, but why?"

Before she could say anything though, alarms echoed throughout the Robot. They ran down to the Command Center. "Our little shadow friend is back", Gibson informed them without taking his eyes off the computer screen.

"If that's a friend, then I hate to see our enemies", Sprx cracked dryly.

"No time for that now Sprx", Chiro said, "Hyperforce, go!"

* * *

"We should have stayed home", Sprx grumbled as he pulled himself up. They were getting flattened. Again. No surprise.

"Where does this thing get it's strength from?" Chiro said furiously.

"Forget strength, what's it's weakness?" Sprx asked.

"Does it have a weakness?" Otto wondered out loud.

"Everything has a weakness", Gibson said, "Even if it is hard to find"

"Well this thing is pretty good at hiding it", Chiro said.

"Keep trying then", Nova said, "We can't just give up!"  
"Right!"

-0-0-0-

D.O. threw Antauri into a cell. "This should hold you", he said as he locked the gate. Antauri pulled himself up (an amazing feat in itself, considering he was still tied up), and looked around. To his amazement, he saw Jin May tied near him, out cold.

"Jin May!" he said, struggling to push himself closer to her. Her eyes fluttered slightly and opened.

"Antauri?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"I don't know", she said desperately, "They just jumped me one day and brought me here, I don't know how it happened or what they want or anything!"  
"It's okay", Antauri said.

"How did you get here?" she asked him.

"I don't know", he admitted, "The same way you did, I suppose"

"Who are they?" she asked, "They look almost like you guys, but they're all black…"  
Antauri shook his head, "I'm not sure"  
Silence, then, "Do the others know you're here?"  
"I doubt it", Antauri said, "If they've said one true word, it's that they know what they're doing"  
"Do _you_ know?"  
"No"

"I've heard them talking a few times", Jin May continued, "They're trying to split up the Hyperforce, they've been doing all kinds of really mean things, torturing Chiro and Nova, causing fights—"  
Antauri looked at her, surprised. "Are you sure?"  
She nodded, and he looked away. That explained it. If only he could explain it to the others.

* * *

Okies. Review 


	6. Silence Isn't Always Golden

**Yay for updates! I've been working hard, and I have almost this entire story finished and saved on my computer. So updates should start coming a little sooner from now on. Okay, read!**

* * *

"Chiro Spearo!" Chiro yelled. A lightning bolt formed in his hand, and he threw it at the monster. It flew right through the thing.

"Okay, that's not going to work", Sprx said, "Time for plan—wah!"

He cut off as something slammed him from behind and hauled him into the air. "Sprx!" they all yelled at the same time.

"What's holding onto him?" Chiro asked, squinting.

"I could be wrong", a taunting voice said from behind them, "But I _think_ it's D.S."  
They whirled around and found themselves facing…"Nova?" Otto asked, looking between D.N. and the actual Nova.

"You really _are_ the dumb monkey", D.N. scoffed.

Nova's fists clenched. Not here, not her friends. "Get lost!" she yelled at D.N.

"But I just got here", she said silkily, "And besides, if I leave, so will D.S. and that means—"  
"Sparky here will be coming with us", D.S. called down, still restraining Sprx.

"Let him go!" Chiro yelled furiously.

"Well, okay, if you insist", and with that, he dropped him.

"SPRX!" they all yelled as one. Chiro dove, and caught the red monkey right before he hit the ground.

"Nice one kid", Sprx muttered, sitting up. There was a flash of light, and suddenly, they were surrounded. Four black monkeys that looked a lot like Nova, Sprx, Otto, and Gibson surrounded them. Nova looked around, and realized right away who was missing from the little group.

"You're the ones who have been behind all this trouble, aren't you?" Chiro asked, glaring at them.

"So you are smart", D.G. said, "What are you going to do about it if we are?"  
"You call yourselves friends?" D.S. asked, "All you ever do is fight, you can't even tell if you're really fighting with the right monkey or not!"  
It hit them all in one sickeningly clear wave. They'd been mad at the wrong people. Of course. "What do you want from us?" Sprx asked.

"We want you all destroyed, of course", D.O. said, "You're wasting your powers, defending the world. It's futile"  
"In the end, there's always evil", D.S. said, "You've never made a difference"  
"You might as well just give up now", D.N. said, "We've got more on the five of you then you'll ever realize"  
"We'll never give up", Chiro said.

"Then you'll just have to be eliminated", D.G. said.

"Good luck trying", Sprx said, "You lousy excuses for robot monkeys can't be beat us!"

"Funny", D.S. said, "Because it's _us_ who have been beating you the entire time"

And with that, they vanished.

-0-0-0-

"There has to be a way out of here", Antauri said.

"I can't find one", Jin May said, "they disabled my powers when they captured me, and being tied up probably doesn't help, of course. This is hopeless!"  
"Don't give up", Antauri advised her, "We _will_ get out of here"  
"How?"  
If only he knew.

-0-0-0-

"Okay who _were_ those lunatics?" Sprx asked furiously.

"Um…Lunatics?" Otto guessed.

"That's a help", Sprx muttered, "Why did they look like _us_?"  
"No clue"

"That's no help at all"

Nova squirmed uncomfortably. No one had questioned her about it. Yet. They'd been too busy taking in the shocking appearance of their evil selves, that they hadn't noticed her and D.N. going at it with each other. She wasn't exactly upset about that, though.

* * *

"Nova?" it was later that night, and Nova was standing outside, taking in the fresh air. She'd been hoping to get some quiet time, but no such luck.

"Yeah?" she said quietly, afraid that Sprx was going to ask her about what happened earlier.

"I was just wondering…" his voice drifted off, "Did you really mean what you said the other day, about not caring about me?"

She hesitated. What could she? _Oh, no, that was my alter ego_? Yeah, that would go over real well.

"Look, Sprx", she said, quietly, "I can't explain it right now, but you have to believe me: I would _never_ say that"  
"Can't explain it?" he sounded confused, "Nova, what do you know about what's been happening?"

"Sprx, please don't ask me", she said, wrapping her arms tighter around herself, "Just…trust me"

"How can I trust you if you want talk to me?" he demanded. The words stung, but she didn't give in.

"Please", was all she said before shoving past him and hurrying back inside.

-0-0-0-

"You think she's hiding something?" Chiro asked, confused. Sprx nodded. "But why would she hide it from us?"  
"I don't know", he admitted, "But I can just tell; she knows something"

"But how?" Gibson asked, "And why?"

-0-0-0-

"You're not the real Antauri"

D.A. turned around to face Nova. "Oh really?"  
"I'm not an idiot you know", she said, her anger barely contained, "You might fool the others, but you don't fool me. Especially not after the fight today. Where's the real Antauri?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he asked with a smirk that didn't look right on his face, which was still that of the real Antauri's.

"I tell them", she said, "I'll tell _everyone_"  
"They won't believe you", he said simply, "You're not the number one person on their list of people to trust, you know. They know you're keeping secrets from them—"  
"Then I'll come clean!"  
"And admit that you've been lying to them?"

"They'll believe me"  
"Will they?"  
"Yes", she said it with much more belief then she really had. Right then, she didn't even think _Sprx_ would listen to her.

D.A. smirked, "Face it, none of them will listen to you"  
"You don't know that"

"And you don't know if they will"

She paused, "Is the real Antauri okay?"  
"In good time Nova. In good time"

* * *

**Okie Dokie. Review, and Happy Holidays!**


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